Volleyball: Nigeria seals its ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2026 Men’s African Nations Championship

Nigeria has qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2026 African Men’s Volleyball Nations Championship in Tunisia.

Nigeria defeated Algeria in a five-set thriller (23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 15-12) in their final group stage match on Thursday, September 17.

The Zone 3 champions started the first set on a high note taking the lead, but the North African team took control to win 25-23 points.

Nigeria came out strong in the second set, sending Algeria to the cleanup and securing a vital 25-19 points before falling asleep in the third set, which ended in favor of the North African team 25-21 points.

The sub-Saharan team staged another comeback, taking the fourth set by 25-20 points before winning the tiebreaker by 15-12 points.

Ryan Masajedi, an elated coach of the Nigerian men’s team, praised the players’ spirit of resilience during the vital match.

Masajedi explained that Nigeria needed to win the match and avoid struggling in the round of 16.

He added that the players have shown that winning against Chad was not a fluke but the result of hard work.

The Japanese coach said: “I am impressed with the way the players recovered after losing the first set. The set was in our favor, but the Algerians were lucky that it went in their favor.

“The players have shown once again that they can perform in any circumstance and they recovered after the first set and we ended up winning the match.

“We started the tournament playing against Chad and the victory against Algeria has consolidated us among the favorites in the Nations Championship.”

He asked the players not to get carried away once again with victory, urging them to prepare for the next opponent.

Masajedi applauded Nigrians for their prayers, support and words of encouragement during the championship.